Akshaya Patra

The Akshaya Patra Foundation, an NGO, has been recognised as one among the fourteen exemplary innovations in a show titled 'Innovating for a Better Tomorrow', an initiative by Infosys. The organisations’ operations and innovations for effective implementation of mid-day meal programme was covered on the said episodic show and broadcasted on CNN IBN.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation was felicitated for its contribution in bringing progressive change in the social sector. The organisation was recognised for its effort in serving food for children. Felicitation was alongside establishments such as BrahMos Aerospace, Barefoot College, Hindustan Unilever, Jain Irrigations, Narayana Hrudayalaya and so on.

The dignitaries assembled for felicitating the innovations from NGO sector and business entities, included N R Narayana Murthy, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman, Infosys; Tessy Thomas, the first ever female scientist to head a missile project in India (Agni-IV) and Kiran Karnik, Former President of NASSCOM.

The NGO, The Akshaya Patra Foundation, implements mid-day meal programme in 9 states; reaching over 1.39 million children across 10631 government and government aided schools across India. The innovations of Akshaya Patra are considered significant as it serves food for children at a very large scale and at a very low cost per meal, with no compromise on hygiene, taste and nutritional value. Through the mid-day meal programme it intervenes and tries to eliminate classroom hunger.

Narayana Murthy spoke about the need for innovation for progressive development of the underprivileged sections of the country. The Akshaya Patra Foundation’s innovations are of one such example, as all of the NGO’s innovations are directed to serving of food for children through mid-day meal programme effectively.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is known all over India, and several parts of the world for the exceptional work they are doing in helping to alleviate child hunger in India. This NGO which started its operations in Bangalore, Karnataka now feeds over 1.3 million children a day through its mid-day meal programme.

This children charity in Bangalore aims to provide ‘Food for Education’ to achieve their vision that no child shall be deprived of education because of hunger. The charity in Karnataka has 6 kitchens across the state. Aside from those at Bellary, Hubli, Mangalore and Mysore, the NGO for children education in Bangalore has two kitchens in this city.

This charity in Karnataka caters to a total of 460,046 children across 2,627 government schools across the state. All the six kitchens of this children charity in Bangalore are centralized kitchens. Centralised kitchens are highly mechanised and able to produce food on a large scale. Because of the highly mechanised nature of the cooking, this NGO for children education in Bangalore produces food of high quality and hygiene levels, by reducing the human contact with the food.

The charity in Karnataka opened its first Akshaya Patra kitchen at H.K Hill, Bangalore, capable of feeding 1,500 children. Today this children charity in Bangalore has 22 kitchens across the country catering to 10,631 government schools every working day. The NGO for children education in Bangalore just opened up its most recent two kitchens, one at Rourkela, Orissa and the other at Jodhpur, Rajasthan.

Out of the six kitchens run by this charity in Karnataka, four of them are ISO 22000:2005 certified, while the remaining two are in the process of certification. Overall 11 kitchens of 22 from this children charity in Bangalore are ISO 22000:2005 certified. This NGO for children education in Bangalore also pays heed to the environment. Several Akshaya Patra kitchens including the Hubli kitchen have undertaken green initiatives like setting up Green kitchen gardens, constructing effluent treatment plants, rain water harvesting and vermin composting.

By serving tasty, nutritious mid-day meals to government schools, this charity in Karnataka hopes to reach out to many more children each year to eventually rid the country of hunger. Till then, this children charity in Bangalore aims to fulfil their mission of feeding 5 million children by 2020. This mid-day meal programme run by the NGO for children education in Bangalore has not just succeeded in providing nutrition to many; it has also acted as an incentive to bring children back to school. The mid-day meal programme run by The Akshaya Patra Foundation has found to have had positive impacts like increasing enrolment, attendance, concentration and socialisation, while reducing school dropout rates.

The progress Akshaya Patra has made in its endeavour to reduce hunger is commendable indeed. If you would like to get involved with The Akshaya Patra Foundation, donate or volunteer, and make a child’s world a little brighter.

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The visitors to the photography exhibition 'A Wall of Hope and Joy' were captivated by the smiles of the children, the beneficiaries of Akshaya Patra, on the photos that adorned the walls. The colourful display in the Akshaya Patra photo gallery filled the hearts of visitors as the innocent smiles on the walls made entire aura cheerful. The photos of Akshaya Patra kitchens were also on display, and the visitors took the opportunity to understand the process.

The Akshaya Patra photo gallery event was inaugurated by B L Shankar, President; D K Chowta, General Secretary; Kamalesh, Assistant Secretary & Professor J.M. Kamalakshi, Former Joint Secretary of Chitrakala Parishath. The images of Akshaya Patra kitchens and children attracted over 250 visitors to the event. Event saw many Akshaya Patra donors and supporters walking in, and overjoyed by the sight of beneficiaries of Akshaya Patra in their varied mood. The first time visitors as well appreciated the Akshaya Patra cause and its work and many even expressed their interest in volunteering for the organisation.

In their feedback to the work of the organisation for the beneficiaries of Akshaya Patra, visitors of the Akshaya Patra photo gallery were very positive. Ms Pushpa Hari, an Akshaya Patra supporter gave a testimony that we are a good organisation and she had been supporting the organisation for years. She acknowledged that organisation is feeding the children by cooking in Akshaya Patra kitchens and bringing children to school and the transparency is maintained by the organisation and hence she has no second thoughts on extending her support to the organisation.

The Akshaya Patra photo gallery event attracted many student groups. Students from Mexico and from Malaysia enjoyed the photo depictions of process in Akshaya Patra kitchens and the innocent smiles of the beneficiaries of Akshaya Patra. The event gave the organisation a great opportunity to spread message and create awareness on its dual cause of feeding children with nourishing food and bringing them to school.

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It is necessary to know the Akshaya Patra facts to understand the organisation better. The Akshaya Patra Foundation was a derived inspiration from a commitment taken up by his Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. He one day, saw a group of children fighting with dogs for scraps of food and moved by this, decided that no child within 10 miles of the centre will go hungry. At the time his grace was in Mayapur, Calcutta. Eventually, this thought resulted in an inspiration to start a mid-day meal program in India through Akshaya Patra in Bangalore.

So let’s run through the Akshaya Patra facts, and learn more about it:

The Akshaya Patra Foundation was stared in 2000
In 2003 it became implementing partner of Mid-Day Meal program in India
Akshaya Patra in Bangalore reached out to more locations such as Hubli, Mangalore, Mysore and Jaipur in 2004 by setting up new kitchens
The organisation became a case study at Harvard Business School
The Akshaya Patra Foundation reached children in deep jungles of Nayagarh, industrial town of Bhilai and more
In 2009 it touched serves of 500 million cumulative meals through Mid-Day Meal program in India and has served its Billionth meal in 2012
Organisation was awarded Gold shield for excellence in Financial reporting by ICAI 5 Consecutive times since 2008 to 2013 entering it to the ICAI ‘Hall of Fame’

The Akshaya Patra Foundation reaches 1.3 Million children across 10,631 Schools spread in 9 states across India. Akshaya Patra strives to ensure effective implementation of the Mid-Day Meal program in India, for which it has made its intellectual property public. Akshaya Patra in Bangalore through its centres in 22 locations provides training opportunities to many stakeholders interested in or engaged in implementation of Mid-Day Meal program in India. Training centres topics such as food safety, quality and personal hygiene.

Along with the Government

One of the most important Akshaya Patra facts is that the organisation is on the steering committee of the Mid-Day Meal program in India, working hand in hand with the Government of India for effective implementation of the scheme. With this opportunity The Akshaya Patra Foundation has been able to work closely with the government and have a dialogue with top bureaucrats on the nitty-gritties of the scheme. Akshaya Patra in Bangalore is the headquarters, at which the key members of the organisation are based, who communicate with the Government of India. However each of Akshaya Patra centres across 9 states works closely with the respective State Governments of the location.

These are just a few Akshaya Patra Facts, the organisation runs worlds’ largest Mid-Day Meal program and is aiming at growing by leap and bounds as it treads towards achieving its mission to reach 5 Million Children in India by 2020. Please visit The Akshaya Patra Foundation at any location to know more.

Mid-Day Meal Scheme implemented by Akshaya Patra is a major source of nutrition and has become an important factor of its beneficiary children’s physical and mental health. This section throws light on how Akshaya Patra food for education has become vital in bringing the nutrition food for children’s development.

The Mid-Day Meal Scheme by the government requires that all the implementing partners ensure that nutrition food for children’s benefit is provided diligently; to increase the nutrition levels among the children. In lieu of this requirement Akshaya Patra ensures its food for education is nutritious, wholesome and unlimited.

How is Akshaya Patra ensuring effective implementation of mid-day meals scheme?

Many factors affect the food intake of the children. Even if you supply nutrition food for children’s benefit, you still need to ensure child consumes sufficient quantity food for appropriate intake of nutrition. Akshaya Patra diligently ensures that its food for education is wholesome and meets the prescribed nutrition levels as per the scheme. At the same time the organisation is also meticulous in studying child’s behaviour in regards to food.

Akshaya Patra has been collecting feedback on its implementation of Mid-Day Meal Scheme, from teachers and children and as per the feedback it has taken many initiatives. As the organisation learnt that the food for education, it serves, has to be of more variety, many new recipes have been introduced depending on the regions of operations. None of the recipes repeat twice within a week.

The menu items more liked by children are served more frequently and vice versa. All this is to ensure that the nutrition food for children’s appetite, prepared by Akshaya Patra is well thought of. The menu items are specific to the preferences and staple grain of the immediate locale. As it is established that the food has direct impact on cognition as well and aids to better learning ability; the concept of food for education drives the organisation constantly and it hopes to bring food that nourishes the children physically and mentally.

When you donate for mid-day meals for the children, you actually do lot more than ensure them one time food. When a donation is made to the Indian charitable trust, The Akshaya Patra Foundation then you give children, an opportunity to chase their dreams. The aim of the donations to children is may be to ensure that they get one full meal, however by donating to Akshaya Patra you do a lot more. You ensure that the child/children get one full meal that is nutritious, fresh and unlimited.

Your donations for children go a long way as it guarantees the children a healthy meal at school every day, bringing them to school. Once they are in school, and they are assured that they will get a meal every single day they attend school regularly, the dropout rate falls. Children attend school every day and get access to food and education; and this is the core objective of this Indian charitable trust. Akshaya Patra works towards eliminating classroom hunger. Because of the mid-day meal, the organisation in its experience has seen increase in enrolment as well.

Mid-day meals help children in meeting at least a part of their nutrition need for the day and thus have better health. Your donation for children will help them become healthy, focused and simply be children. It also will keep them in school; it will also bring more children to school. An Indian charitable trust such as Akshaya Patra ceaselessly works to ensure that children have access to not just food but also food that is nutritious and tasty.

You have array of choices to make donations for children with Akshaya Patra. You may donate to specific number of children per year. To feed a child a year will only cost you Rs. 750 and this Indian charitable trust will also provide 100% tax exemption certificate for all donations. The minimum value of donation is Rs. 500. For the purpose of donating for mid-day meals, with Akshaya Patra you have following options:

" Rs 2250 Feeds 3 children for a year

" Rs 4500 Feeds 6 children for a year

" Rs 6750 Feeds 9 children for a year

" Rs 9000 Feeds 12 children for a year

" Rs 12000 Feeds 16 children for a year

" Rs 15000 Feeds 20 children for a year

" Rs 18750 Feeds 25 children for a year

" Rs 22500 Feeds 30 children for a year

You also have an option to feed an entire school of your choice for a year. The Indian charitable trust also needs your support in purchase of vehicles and kitchen equipment. There is a need for many resources in order to serve mid-day meals in schools, and your donations finally serve the children. You could make donations for the children or any of the above, end of the day, the organisation ensures that it is children who benefit from your donations.

There is a huge population of disadvantaged children in India. Charity for Children in India is imperative due to the numerous issues that the children are faced with. Hunger, malnutrition, poverty, education are but a few on the list. If one has to donate to children in India, there many options that are available. However this could put an individual in a fix. To choose one NGO for children in India is a task in itself. Then how does one choose an NGO to donate?

Let’s take for example an organisation like The Akshaya Patra Foundation, which is among the top NGO’s in the nation that does charity for children in India. What makes Akshaya Patra more trust worthy? Even though there are many NGO for children in India, Akshaya Patra is known for its authenticity due to its compliance to transparency as an NGO. If you donate to children in India through Akshaya Patra, you will ensure that a mid-day meal reaches children. You will get the breakup of how your money was spent. Through many avenues the organisation shares its financial information. One such example is its Annual report 2012-13, which is available online for anybody to go through the income and expenditure accounts for the year.

Akshaya Patra is one such NGO for children in India that strives to deliver nutritious food to over 1.3 million children every school day. It has been recognised by many institutes through awards and accolades. When you donate to children in India through Akshaya Patra you not only ensure that children have access to food but also ensure they access education, as this program is pointed at bringing children to school. This charity for children in India has ensured that children not only enrol to school for the incentive that is food, but also that they stay in school. Dropout rates have reduced in the schools where Akshaya Patra food is served. Better health and education will lead to better opportunities and that in turn could alleviate poverty.

When you donate to children in India through Akshaya Patra, you bring hope to many children as Akshaya Patra has become a ray of hope to children that it serves. Some of its locations are so remote that children hardly know of mobile phones, let alone any other technology. Yet Akshaya Patra food reaches them on time. Charity for childrenin India, especially to the cause of Akshaya Patra is very crucial as many children are going to school instead of working as child labour for one square meal. This NGO for children in India in fact believes that serving 1.3 Million children every school day is just the beginning. It wants to reach out to 5 million children by 2020, and will not rest, until it ensures that no child in India is deprived of education due to hunger.

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78 students of 33 nationalities from Said Business School, Oxford University, pursuing the Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) course visited The Akshaya Patra Foundation, Bangalore, India; the not for profit organisation during April, 2014. This cross country excursion aimed at study of the operations and technology module adopted by the organisation for implementation of the Mid-Day Meal Scheme. The students have also visited businesses such as Infosys, Wipro and RuralShores. This is the second time students from Oxford University are visiting Akshaya Patra

A brief account of the visit

Students assembled at The Akshaya Patra Foundation’ kitchen, HK Hill, Bangalore at Six in the morning; for a brief on end to end processes undertaken by the unit to deliver the wholesome meal on every school day. The curious group were given an opportunity to peek into the operations of not for profit organisation, summarising the techniques adopted for preparing food under the Mid-Day Meals Scheme by the organisation. The Head of Talent Engagement & Development, The Akshaya Patra Foundation addressed the visiting group.

The students were spellbound by the impact the organisation has made which was visualised by them with help of videos and presentations. They also understood the nitty-gritties of the partnership between the not for profit organisation and the Government and the support revered by the government for effective implementation of the Mid-Day Meal Scheme.

The Oxford student’s project and The Akshaya Patra Foundation

According to Kathy Harvey, Director, Oxford Executive MBA programme; to understand the way a not for profit organisation such as Akshaya Patra deal with the multitude of the stake holders that range from Children, school staff, employees, donors, vendors and the Government representatives was an important aspects for the project. They also noted that exposure to such large operations with the transparency and accountability on the funds utilisation for implementation of Mid Day Meal Scheme was also an important aspect.

Students were encouraged to probe throughout the visit, on The Akshaya Patra Foundation’ operations, sustainability plans, assessment of financial risks, challenges faced and more. The not for profit organisation was among several business entities that the students visited as part of their exposure to different dimensions in technology and its application around the world.

The students expressed interest to volunteer with The Akshaya Patra Foundation and appreciated the not for profit organisation’ feat to implement the Mid-Day Meal Scheme effectively. "Thank you very much for the tremendous work you [Akshaya Patra] do for the children of India," said Harry Turner.

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It’s that time of the year again when we celebrate Mother’s day. We all know how a mother is an important part of all of our lives and we admire her for many reasons. On the occasion of Mother’s day Akshaya Patra salutes all the mothers across world.

Akshaya Patra has always been moved by the plight of mothers in caring for their progeny. In India, where millions of children are battling hunger and malnutrition, the fight of the mothers is inexplicable. Not only do millions of mothers struggle to ensure that their children at least get one square meal, many expectant mothers and lactating mothers are battling for their own survival due to issues of hunger and malnutrition.

Hunger and malnutrition of course is not just among children but also among adults; however there is adverse effect on child and the mother when an expectant or lactating mother is malnourished. Special care and attention needs to be given to expectant or lactating mothers, during the period. Even though there is a decrease in maternal mortality rate there still an estimated death of 301 women for every 100, 000 live births, annually, as per Indian Government. Many deaths are said to be unaccounted as the numbers are captured from the medical records only.

Being this the situation on one side, on the other side children of malnourished or undernourished mothers, many times become victim. The nourishment received by children during the first six months after birth is very crucial for their growth. The major sources being the milk from the mother, it is very important for mothers to be well nourished as well. The mothers need nourishment for self and the child.

We share this information with all readers on the Mother’s day so that we can appeal to you to participate in programs that support the nourishment deprived mothers across the country. The Akshaya Patra Foundation has also initiated Anganwadi Feeding program, in Andhra Pradesh. This initiative reaches nearly 25,000 beneficiaries that include expectant and lactating mothers, children between the ages 6 months to 3 years and 3 years to 6 years. Even though many organisations are working towards this cause, the efforts are not sufficient.

There are many struggles that mothers go through and there are only a few struggles, which we can help resolve, let’s do our best and support mothers as much as possible in their hardships. Happy Mother’s Day!!

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Akshaya Patra, Indian charitable trust, was awarded the prestigious Communicator Award of Distinction for overall design in print, one of the most competitive award programs for creative excellence. 6000 entries were received by The Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts (AIVA), for their 20th annual Communicator Award 2013 and the distinction was added to Akshaya Patra awards, from among them. Participants included B. Braun Medical, Bank of America, DHL, GA Communication Group, United Healthcare and many more.

It was a proud moment for The Akshaya Patra Foundation as the award gave recognition in creative excellence for communication professionals, not in ‘not-for-profit’ but in overall category. Akshaya Patra awards gallery is pleased with this addition. The Communicator Award honours best communication practices in various categories like advertising, video, print, interactive and audio collaterals. With the record number of entries this year, the Indian charitable trust was honoured among winners such as Accenture, Bloomberg, Benz Communications and McMillan in the print category.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation, an Indian charitable trust, is thankful for this recognition by AIVA. AIVA was formed by distinguished communication professionals from celebrated media, advertising and marketing firms such as Yahoo!, Rabble+Rouser, Tribal DDB, Time Inc., MTV, Monster.com, Lockheed Martin, Keller Crescent, Disney, Condè Nast, AirType Studio, so on and so forth. Learn more about Akshaya Patra awards here.

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There are many advantages to making donations to charity in India. Aside from good feeling and satisfaction borne from donating to one of the worthy causes supported by many a NGO in India, it also entitles the donor to a 100 per cent tax exemption. The Akshaya Patra Foundation is an NGO that was set up in 2000 with the aim to provide Food for Education to the millions of starving children in India. Through their mid day meal programme, the organisation helps provide tasty, nutritious food to over 1.3 million children in India every day. An online donation is a very simple way to assist this organisation in reaching their mission of feeding 5 million children by 2020.

This NGO in India now runs 22 kitchens across the country, and has a presence in 9 states. The organisation adopted implementation of the mid day meal programme to children studying in government schools across India, to fulfil their vision that no child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger. The programme has also shown other benefits like decreasing school drop our rates, increased attendance, enrolment, and concentration. The organisation has received wide spread support for promoting this worthy cause, and also has an online donation forum to help assist those who would like to join hands to help feed the children in need.

The outstanding quality and hygiene levels maintained in the operations process of the mid day meal programme has made this NGO in India the recipient of several prominent awards. The organisation recently won the CII National Award for Food Safety (CII-Confederation of Indian Industry) for their excellence in running food safety and quality systems efficiently. It also won the Gold Shield Award by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) for excellence in financial accounting, for the fifth year in a row, entering them into the hall of fame. One reason why this NGO has received great trust in the form of online donation is due to this high adherence to quality control and transparency in all their practices.

This NGO in India is committed to the cause of taking food for education to as many children in need as possible. The organisation recently opened two kitchens, one at Jodhpur (Rajasthan) and the other at Rourkela (Odisha), taking the mid-day meal programme further into the country. Now the programme reaches out to children across 10,631 government schools in India on every working day. The organisation relies solely on donations to achieve its goals. Aside from the government grants and CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) grants, the organisation receives a great deal of support through individual donors, very often in the form of online donation.

Akshaya Patra needs the continued help and support of the society to succeed in helping to alleviate childhood hunger in India. Donate or volunteer with the organisation to help make a difference.

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Very often people want to donate some of their wealth to charity but don’t know which organisation to target or how to approach them. The Akshaya Patra Foundation is a not for profit organisation that works to eliminate childhood poverty in India by providing food for education to children in need. This NGO in Bangalore started its operations in Karnataka and today reaches out to 1.39 million children across 10,631 government schools across the country on every school day. This charity in Karnataka now has 22 kitchens across 9 states in India, with a mission to feed 5 million children by 2020. The ease with which interested donors can access this organisation is also great. Online donation for charity is just one of the ways those interested can get involved with this Foundation.

The NGO in Bangalore has six kitchens in the state. One can gain an understanding of how this charity in Karnataka operates by visiting any of the kitchens at HK Hill (Bangalore), Vasanthapura (Bangalore), Mysore, Mangalore, Bellary or Hubli. An online donation for charity toward any of these kitchens will help the Foundation reach out to many more children in the state.

All the six kitchens of this NGO in Bangalore are centralised kitchens. These kitchens are highly mechanised and implement Food Safety Management Systems to ensure that the food is tasty, hygienic and meets the quality requirements every day. The charity in Karnataka runs 20 centralised and 2 decentralised kitchens across India. Recognising the need for an alternative plan in areas with low road connectivity and infrastructure, the Foundation runs decentralised kitchens employing local women Self Help Groups (SHGs) under the guidance of the organisation personnel. Online donation for charity like Akshaya Patra will help the organisation fulfil its mission.

The NGO in Bangalore encourages participation from the community in many ways. Visiting a kitchen and spreading the word of this worthy cause via social media, spending time at a school interacting with the children, sparing weekends to teach your valuable skills to the children in workshops or hosting fund raising events are all met with great delight at this charity in Karnataka. Online donation for charity toward Akshaya Patra for just Rs 750 will be enough to feed one child the nutritious mid-day meal for an entire year.

The NGO in Bangalore receives funding for its operations through the Government of India, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and private donors. Out of a total 22 kitchens in India, 11 of these are ISO 22000:2005 certified with the remaining in the process of receiving certification. This charity in Karnataka is also striving to improve and grow so that it may realise its vision that no child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger. You can make an online donation for charity to this organisation or volunteer to help feed more of these innocent young children in India.

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Achievement of 100% literate society is a challenge not only for non-profit organisations but also for the Government. The underlying reason being the socio-economic scenario of India which prefers children to earn a square meal than letting them to reach school. Government programmes such as Right to Education (RTE), Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA) and Mid-Day Meal Scheme (MDMS) are efforts to allow the grass root level section of the society to receive the fundamental right of education. For marginalised background, it becomes difficult to understand as to how every day’s schooling is better than every day’s earning. Hence, to create awareness and bring in more and more participation from the society at large, Government organisations in partnership with non-profit organisations implement different developmental schemes.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is one such non-profit organisation working towards bridging the gap between education and marginalised section through providing the goodness of food. The Akshaya Patra Foundation implements the Mid-Day Meal programme by being in partnership with Central Government and State Governments. The Foundation has well understood the relation between food and education and hence works towards reaching even the remotest location of a particular State. Also, in order to achieve the objectives of the Central Mid-Day Meal Scheme, it prepares the mid-day meals by keeping in mind the criteria of catering to the local taste and consumable by children of all communities. This allows the children to relish a wholesome meal along with their classmates thereby indirectly imbibing the qualities of socialisation and equality.

Here are two anecdotes that demonstrate the potential of education and mid-day meals. While in a visit to one of The Akshaya Patra Foundation’s beneficiary schools, we witnessed that a young girl of about 18 years is walking into the Principal’s office with a box of sweets. A curious enquiry revealed that she was an ex-student of this school and has come to thank the teachers and share the happy news of completing her Pre-University education and of being recruited by a bank for a clerical position.

In another instance, Raffath Unnisa, a senior teacher at one of the Akshaya Patra Foundation’s beneficiary schools narrates, "Years ago, I had a student who was highly interested in academics and performed well too. But, events of continuously missing school for many days led us to enquire about him and brought to light that as he was the only male child in the family, his grandmother preferred him to help his parents in the fields rather than going to school.” It did take time but this teacher was determined to bring the boy back to school. Rounds of meetings regarding importance of education convinced the parents to resend the boy for schooling. With pride Unnisa words, “Today the same little boy is all grown up and is pursuing his career in the Income Tax Department”.

These anecdotes are real life events that validate the potential of education and mid-day meal in transforming the society to better. It also brings to fore that Government, Non-profit organisations, teachers and society at large should come together to attain full potential of education and mid-day meal scheme.

Get in touch with The Akshaya Patra Foundation and know how you can be a part of this transformation.

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The Akshaya Patra Foundation started its initiative in Andhra Pradesh with kitchens in Hyderabad and Vishakhapatnam in 2008. This Hyderabad NGO today feeds 54,849 children across 454 government schools every day. It is a mission of this organisation to feed the hungry child and provide them with food through the mid-day meal programme, so that they can get an education. The organisation supports this initiative through generous donations online, as well as donations received from the Central and State Governments, and CSR initiatives.

The Hyderabad NGO also feeds 25,768 Anganwadi children every day. This is an initiative to provide the right nutrition to infants as well as pregnant and lactating mothers in the area. The organisation understands that it is vital to feed the hungry child, especially at a young age as their bodies need the right nutrients to develop into healthy, happy human beings. The Foundation receives donations online from well-wishers all over India and from the US and UK supporting the cause of food for education.

The Hyderabad NGO started its Anganwadi programme in November 2012 and feeds close to 26,000 individuals. The organisation remaining true to its quest to feed the hungry child has made plans to increase the provision of Anganwadi feeding in Hyderabad to another 30,000 individuals in the coming months. The beneficiaries of the Anganwadi programme are served a menu consisting of Dhaliya Kichidi, Milk Sweet, Rice and Leah Dhal, Jaggery Pongal, and snack items like Muruku, Biscuits, Energy Bytes, Peanut Candy etc.

It is the vision of this Foundation that no child shall be deprived of education because of hunger. Feeding 1.39 million children through 22 kitchens across India every day, the organisation aims to achieve its mission of feeding 5 million children by 2020. This Hyderabad NGO is constantly working toward achieving this goal and implements continuous improvements in its kitchen for this purpose. The Hyderabad kitchen expanded its production capacity from 50,000 meals to 100,000 meals in 2012-13. The kitchen also understands the need to provide hygienic, tasty food with consistent quality to feed the hungry child on every school day. The Hyderabad kitchen is a centralised kitchen, and therefore follows a highly mechanised, efficient cooking process with minimum contact with the food. This ensures that hygiene and quality standards remain high. The kitchen won the award for the ‘Best Mid-Day Meal Provider’ award presented by EPICURUS, three times in a row, for their high standards of quality.

For people who are interested in supporting this worthy cause, online donations are a convenient, quick way to contribute to the programme, else volunteer and fund raise with the organisation and get involved with The Akshaya Patra Foundation.

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A dedicated fleet of spic and span delivery vehicles painted in blue is a sight to catch at all Akshaya Patra kitchens. These blue vehicles are not just a medium of transporting cooked food for children; rather it is a ray of hope for millions of children in over 10,000 Government schools across 9 states. Started as a charity in Bangalore, Akshaya Patrahad only one kitchen back in 2000. By operating in a Public-Private Partnership model this NGO it has Centralised Kitchens in 20 locations and Decentralised Kitchens in two locations. One major challenge the NGO faced in its initial year was transportation of the cooked meals to the schools. At this time, Mohandas Pai took the initiative of donating the first delivery vehicle. This speaks of itself about the importance of this delivery fleet in the entire process of implementing the mid-day meal programme.

Every morning over 550 blue vehicles leave Akshaya Patra kitchen premises carrying freshly cooked nutritious food for children across all locations. For many it must be a regular sight on the road but only the beneficiary of the meal knows its real value and only the carrier of the food knows the importance of delivering the meal on time. These vehicles are custom-designed to retain the freshness of the meal. The vehicles have insulated body with honeycomb structured racks to ensure maximum space utilisation and avoid spillage.

All the Akshaya Patra kitchens have washing bays where the vehicles are washed and steam sterilised regularly. The fleet undergoes periodic chemical treatment process with food grade chemicals to ensure cleanliness, hygiene thereby ensuring that the vehicles are free of any contamination. Regular monitoring of vehicles and third party checks are a part of all Akshaya Patra kitchens. Cumbersome traffic, bad roads or any similar event does not pose a hindrance when it comes to delivering food for children. A team of committed drivers and coordinators, on time departure of the fleet of delivery vehicles, route optimisation, at hand - back-up plan and GPS devices makes sure that there is no breakdown in the process.

Akshaya Patra is thankful to all the donors who made having this blue fleet a possibility. Not only as charity in Bangalore, benevolent donors have time and again helped the NGO by donating delivery vehicles in other locations too. Akshaya Patra welcomes you to be a part of the charity in Bangalore or any of its other serving locations based on your preference.

Be the medium of hope, it feels good!

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Donate to children's charity such as The Akshaya Patra Foundation, which works in partnership with the Government in implementation of the Mid-Day Meals Scheme. The organisation serves mid day meals in over 10,000 Government and Government aided schools reaching 1.39 Million children across 9 states in the country. Akshaya Patra is implementing mid day meal scheme in Rajasthan as well. As an NGO in Rajasthan, which is working with the State Government of Rajasthan for implementing the scheme, Akshaya Patra reaches 135,910 children from 1,830 schools across the state.

This NGO in Rajasthan has set up kitchens in three locations: Jaipur, Nathdwara and Baran. For the purpose of implementing the Mid-Day Meal Scheme in Rajasthan, Akshaya Patra has set up two centralised kitchens in Jaipur and Nathdwara and decentralised kitchens in Baran. To reach out to 135,910 children in Rajasthan, the organisation needs support from all. When you donate to children's charities such as Akshaya Patra, you ensure that these children receive fresh, wholesome meal every school day. In many cases, you help children gain access to not only food, but also education. As, many children would have to work in order afford just one meal a day.

You have many options with Akshaya Patra, if you want to donate to children's charities. You not only could donate to a single child for a year but for more than one child. You could support this NGO in Rajasthan even by sponsoring a school for a year. You could explore support opportunities on the organisation's website. Akshaya Patra is determined to increase its reach with in the state and more effectively implement the mid day meal scheme in Rajasthan in the near future.

Akshaya Patra implements mid day meal scheme in Rajasthan, in remote regions of Baran. The decentralised kitchen in Baran is very close to our heart as the organisation reaches to children with wholesome meals in remote locations with most vulnerable tribes and economically backward populace. The cooks employed in these kitchens are women from self-help groups, of their respective villages. This NGO in Rajasthan ensures that all the employees are trained in various aspects of cooking, hygiene, nutrition and the like. The women have also learnt managing inventory, requisition and accounts. The employees in the decentralised kitchens also learn and work wholeheartedly, as the beneficiaries are children from their own communities or sometimes their own children. It goes a long way when you donate to children's charities such as Akshaya Patra.

There are many stories of children from Rajasthan who benefit from the mid day meals served by Akshaya Patra. To donate to children's charities such as Akshaya Patra, go to our online donations page or simply write to us at infodesk@akshyapatra.org. Help this NGO in Rajasthan reach more and more children, by implementing mid day meal scheme in Rajasthan.

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Of the charitable organisations in India, The Akshaya Patra Foundation is one of the most well-known names across the country. Known for their noble work in providing food for education through the mid-day meal programme, the Foundation today runs 22 kitchens, feeding children from 10,631 government schools across India. One of the most mechanised kitchens, the organisation runs is at Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh. The Vrindavan NGO feeds 139,262 children across 1,874 government schools on every school day. Akshaya Patra being a charity organisation accepts contributions from those interested, in the form of NGO donations online, as well as payments in cheque or demand draft.

Akshaya Patra is one of the charitable organisations in India working to free the country from classroom hunger. The organisation currently feeds 1.39 million school children every day, and is on the mission to feed 5 million by 2020. With a vision that no child shall be deprived of education because of hunger, the Foundation is moving forward by leaps and strides to achieve its milestones. The Vrindavan NGO also exemplifies Akshaya Patra’s commitment to quality, hygiene and safety. The ISO 22000:2005 centralised kitchen uses state of the art machinery and Food Safety Management Systems to reduce human contact with the food, thereby maintaining hygiene, quality and taste every day. Well-wishers who make NGO donations online toward the Foundation have done a lot to help the organisation maintain these excellent standards, when providing the mid-day meal.

It is vital for charitable organisations in India to maintain high levels of transparency in all its work to create trust between its donors and management. Therefore Akshaya Patra issues an impressively detailed annual report and donor report outlining the Foundation’s progress, the past year. These also make note of any developments that the Foundation would like to share with its donors. For example the Vrindavan NGO is equipped with a roti making machine that can produce up to 40,000 rotis per hour, and is even fitted with sprinklers to make sure the oil is distributed evenly. Assistance received through NGO donations online has helped the operation scale up significantly in the past few years.

Charitable organisations in India like Akshaya Patra is helping over a million children a day, still comes across some beneficiaries that stand out and make an impact. A beneficiary of the Vrindavan NGO, Rohit, initially began visiting the school only to eat the meal. Soon however, he developed an interest in the classes as well, taking part in activities and making friends, and started attending the classes regularly. Akshaya Patra is dependent on supporters of the cause making NGO donations online so that more children like Rohit can benefit from the programme. Interestingly, helping the cause does not come at a steep price. A donation of just Rs 750/- is enough to feed one child for an entire year. If you would like to support this cause, volunteer or donate with The Akshaya Patra Foundation today.

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World Environment Day 2014 falls on Thursday, 5th of June. This day is dedicated towards raising awareness on positive and sustainable environmental actions to protect the nature and thereby protecting the planet Earth at large. World Environment Day is an initiative of the United Nations to counter environmental issues like climate change, global warming and the like. The theme for World Environment Day 2014 is ‘Small Islands and Climate Change’ and the official slogan for World Environment Day 2014 is 'Raise Your Voice Not the Sea Level’.

Safeguarding the environment is a responsibility of all its inhabitants. Apart from the initiatives of the United Nations and Governments of all the countries, this cause is taken up by many NGOs worldwide. These NGOs work primarily towards sustaining the environment and spreading awareness about how at individual level each of us can bring about a change. World Environment Day gives a platform for change but it requires continuous effort at all levels to bring about a positive global change. The theme and slogan for this year’s World Environment Day makes it evident that participation of all is a much needed step to sustain our planet.

Apart from the NGOs whose core cause is environment sustainability, there are other NGOs like The Akshaya Patra Foundation who makes its effort towards contributing to the betterment of the environment while implementing its principle cause of providing mid-day meal at Government schools. The Akshaya Patra Foundation is an Indian NGO that cooks up meals for 1.39 million meals every day for the children of Government schools. This Indian NGO encourages green initiatives at all its kitchens in 22 locations. One of its initiatives is the Biogas plant at Vasanthapura kitchen, a unit in the serving state of Karnataka. Apart from acting as an effective waste management project this plant has considerably reduced the usage of LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) for the purpose of cooking mid-day meal. Not just for World Environment Day, Akshaya Patra works towards green initiatives all through the year.

Working towards providing ‘unlimited food for education’, Akshaya Patra receives support from Central Government and State Governments along with benevolent donors. Amidst steering its activities towards its vision of “No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger”, it makes a conscious effort towards implementing eco-friendly practices. It welcomes partnerships that can aid in process improvement through green initiatives. Your participation and contribution goes a long way in achieving the vision of Akshaya Patra. On this World Environment Day, you can either choose to partner with this Foundation for a green initiative or donate to this charity. When you donate to the charity, you make a step towards a healthy and educated society. In turn, the conscientious citizens of the society will be aware and responsible enough to protect the environment.

Be a part in changing the society and the environment to make it more liveable.

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Akshaya Patra, NGO implementing Mid-Day Meal Scheme was one among the expert group members in workshop organised by Karnataka State Planning Department on 29th March, 2014. The Planning Department in collaboration with UNDP – Planning commission organised workshop, in order to bring a third State Human Development Report, 2014 under the project “Human Development: Towards Bridging Inequalities”. The charity in Karnataka was part of the workshop to provide its inputs on the Food and Nutrition section of the report. The organisation that feed hungry children has been invited to be part of the discussion, due to its rich experience in serving food over years.

The workshop in which, the said charity in Karnataka participated, was inaugurated by Latha Krishna Rao, Additional Chief Secretary, Food and Supplies Department. Many other dignitaries were also present in the workshop inaugural. As an organisation that implements Mid-Day Meal Scheme to feed hungry children, Akshaya Patra was also a participant of the event.

As it implements Mid-Day Meal Scheme, Akshaya Patra was invited to provide its view points for the chapter Nutrition and Food, an intrinsic part of State Human Development Report. The charity in Karnataka was presented with its opportunity due to its rich experience and expertise on the subject. Akshaya Patra started its programme to feed hungry children in the year 2000.

The objectives of the proposed report are

To assess the status of Human Development in the State
To identify trends and key indicators
To outline crucial issues with focus on regional
To develop strategies to attain inclusive growth

The Charity in Karnataka, The Akshaya Patra Foundation has emphasised on the need for more effective implementation of the Mid-Day Meal Scheme, especially in the remote regions. The organisation that feed hungry children emphasised that quality of nutrition is such that it has direct effect on learning abilities and skill acquisition. Hence cognition and mental health should also be given equal importance as physical health.

Akshaya Patra, organisation that feed hungry children, has also presented the author with Dietary Guidelines published by National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad (a brief on Nutrition & Cognitive Development by NFSMI; NFHS-3, Nutrition In India) that could be referred while compiling the report.

Dr M S Tara, Regional Director (Bangalore), National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development (NIPCCD) at the end of workshop expressed that all the inputs given by the group members will be considered for making of the report. All the vital points given by Akshaya Patra, NGO partner of Mid-Day Meal Scheme in many parts of Karnataka, were taken into consideration.

The Charity in Karnataka, Akshaya Patra feels honoured by this opportunity to participate with the senior members such as G Kumar Naik, Managing Director, Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited; S V Ranganath, Former Chief Secretary, and Shankarlinge Gowda, Former Principal Secretary, GoK. For Akshaya Patra, the NGO that feed hungry children, this was a great learning experience with an opportunity to be part of discussions related to Human Development.

Infosys featured Akshaya Patra Centralized kitchens on its 'Innovating for a Better Tomorrow', in partnership with CNN IBN. The show recognises entrepreneurs who have placed India on innovations map of the world, through their innovative ideas and creativity. Akshaya Patra CNN IBN coverage featured Akshaya Patra on par with Innovation giants like Brahmos Aerospace and Narayan Hrudayalaya.

The organisations’ commitment to feed hungry children by its innovations was captured during the episode through a virtual tour to the Akshaya Patra Centralized kitchens and an exclusive interview with the Madhu Pandit Dasa, Chairman of the organisation. Highlighting on two major concerns, Hunger and Illiteracy, the Chairman said that a wholesome meal is closely related to classroom attention. A child, if distracted by hunger, will not be able to learn or internalise what is taught. He expressed that organisation is driven by the thought to feed hungry children and is inspired by the several million children whom, organisation still needs to reach.

The Akshaya Patra CNN IBN coverage captures the innovative technologies developed so that feeding 1.3 million children is made possible. Roti making machine that can produce over 40,000 rotis per hour, heat insulated vehicles are among many innovations that has made Akshaya Patra Centralized kitchens innovation marvels.

The Chairman also highlighted the technology strategy adopted, to feed hungry children, at the organisation by referring to the culture of innovation that is seen throughout the organisation. He further said that we need to adopt ideas of technologies of the west and mix it with our own resources in order to localise innovations and address the local issues. Click here to watch the Akshaya Patra CNN IBN coverage.

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